In a communication network it is desirable to provide conferencing service whereby a plurality of widely separated customers can converse using their telephone stations or can exchange data using their data terminals.
Many conference arrangements require the assistance of an attendant in establishing and controlling the conference since the attendant's position has special facilities such as supervisory equipment and tone dialing key pads.
In an effort to make the conference service more convenient to the customer, fully automatic dial-up conference arrangements have been designed. In these arrangements, a customer desiring to establish a conference dials a conference access code and is connected to a special port of a multi-port conference bridge. This port is called the originator's port and is equipped with special facilities, such as, multifrequency or dial pulse receivers, that respond to further signals from the conference originator's station to allow the originator to control the bridge by selecting other ports in order to add other conferees, etc.
Since only the originator's port is equipped with these special facilities, the originator must remain on the conference until it is terminated.